Best Open Source Web Development Tools

Money can buy some of the world’s best things but that doesn’t mean free things are useless or of no value. Open-source web development tools are among the best things available for free (or almost!). But what makes them actually priceless is the freedom to work with them as you like. The people contributing to the open source communities visualise and work hard to make the web space more fetching and as error-free as possible. Since more than one person (who is an expert) is involved in the process to make the tool/software better, developers can be sure of creating wonders (in the form of websites and applications) for their clients. However for that, knowing and perfecting the tools are absolutely necessary!

This blog takes you through some of the most useful thus popular development tools that can take a lot of pain out of the website/application development process.

1. Node.js

Applications requiring too much real-time interaction are developed using Node.js, which is a JavaScript runtime environment. Speed and scalability are two of its most important features. Its compatibility with JSON and ability to be used on both browser and server make it stand out among other tools.

This tool can also be used as a building block to create even more tools for particular tasks. Node.js, once in your hand, is your toy to play with and do what you want it to do. This flexibility is the prime reason developers love it and is among their favourites.

2. Angular JS

Developed by Google, this web development framework has gained significant popularity for its convenience and flexibility. The Model-View-Controller framework works hand-in-hand with the intentions of the developer. The way it is designed, it requires writing fewer codes for things like data model binding and DOM manipulation. Also, Angular JS is developed unit-test-ready with the help of Karma testing framework, which also adds to its attractiveness to the developers.

Since the framework is closely watched by the elite developers of Google and a dedicated, trusted community of contributors, expect your error encounters to be minimal.

3. MongoDB

This one here addresses your database woes. When the data seems unwieldy, huge and complicated, expectation of real-time analytics can be a challenge. This NoSQL database is at forefront among those in the category, effectively putting your worries at rest. It offers great advantages where unstructured data is one of the major concerns for the developers. Being able to function on cloud with that kind of database is another important plus.

When it comes to speed and ease of integrating newer elements quickly without impacting downtime, MongoDB is the way to go. Its goodness helps the customer to get a customized experience, fluid assistance with CMS, delivery of improved versions of existing apps, integration of IoT where needed and real-time and location-based data analytics.

4. Syntactically Awesome Style Sheets (Sass)

One of the many yet one of the best CSS pre-processors, Sass has emerged to be an essential tool in the toolkit of any front-end developer. To make his CSS function better, he heavily relies on Sass to allow saving some time with the use of defined variable, writing less codes, creating better responsive designs and making code writing a not-so-painful experience through nesting approach.

Developers are comfortable using Sass as it is easy to set up in any OS, be it Windows, Mac or Linux. They can learn about Sass as they go, without needing to master it prior to working it with CSS. Also though Sass uses Ruby scripting language, a thorough knowledge of this is not needed to start working with Sass. Developers can learn as they go.

5. React JS

If a powerful JavaScript is what you are looking forward to, React JS is can be the go-to tool. Developed by Facebook, it uses SSR (Server-side Rendering) with much functionality than what was possible earlier. Developers can be sure of reducing load time dramatically, even with huge dynamic interactive content. This isomorphic JavaScript library is very useful in developing modern web applications that were very complex with Client-side rendering showing the signs of aging and needing help. That help came efficiently from React.js.

Developers can make the best use of this framework by learning Flux, which is an application architecture developed to address scalability issues of React.js. Some other good-to-know things while using React are Immutable.js, employing functional component and JSX.

6. Bootstrap

Known to create front-end interfaces and mobile-first websites, Bootstrap is really fast and considerably efficient to the point of being intelligent. Fast, simple and light, this framework can take responsive designing to another level. This Twitter-released framework was initially a JavaScript library that received great feedback. Then it evolved into a complete framework in its avatar as open source development tool. Easy to customize, essentially for mobiles as fast as it could get, it’s no surprise that developers love it.

What you can do with Bootstrap is just limited by a developer’s imagination, (or, so they say!). Developers love this framework today for its latest version Bootstrap 4 that comes with the template named Jumbotron with great many features.

7. LESS

Another great CSS pre-processor is LESS, which as the name might suggest tries to help you write smartly, coding to encourage reuse, customize and manage style sheets. Among the benefits, the one that quite agrees with the developers is its ability to be used as both client-side as well as server-side. Also, it’s compatible with all the browsers (well, almost all!).

Written in JavaScript, Less.js either works with Node.js (that we have discussed earlier), or requires a web browser to function. Using it with Node.js is always recommended since it is fast unlike directly integrating it with the website.

Conclusion

Once, there was a time when developers had to work from the scratch and that too did not yield expected results. However, that was effectively put to an end with open source software / tools. Genius minds through dedicated communities continue to work to make life of people in the IT space easier and reap a satisfaction that could match no money. Open source web development tools offer a kind of flexibility that is not available with paid / patented tools. The wide range of functionalities available with different tools is just pure empowerment. The amount of work that gets done with these sophisticated tools is unparalleled. Developers are now spoilt for choices to accomplish their tasks. The above seven tools give you some glimpse into that world. Be sure to explore more!